Fools and knaves

On Fox News Sunday this morning, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice reiterated the Obama administration’s position on the murder of Christopher Stevens in Libya and the attacks on the American embassy in Cairo and elsewhere: these are all just protests of the Muhammad video that spun out of control.

The video above does not include Rice’s extension of the analysis to the Libyan assault, but that’s what I heard her say on that subject as well. The Fox News story on the interview captures her comments as follows:

“What sparked the violence was a very hateful video on the Internet,” Rice said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It was a reaction to a video that had nothing to do with the United States.”

Rice also said federal agents are investigating the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Rice said right now officials have no solid evidence the attack was “pre-meditated or pre-planned.”

She said the investigation is ongoing, but the best information is that protesters in Libya, on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, were following an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.

Rice said “extremists” arrived with heavy weapons, but “we don’t see any signs this was a pre-meditated, pre-planned attack.”

The investigation to which Rice refers seems not to have gotten far off the ground; the FBI has reportedly been unable even to enter Libya. Among recent news reports that suggest this story won’t stand is this CNN story, currently linked on Drudge:

According to one of the Libyan security guards who was stationed at one of the gates armed with only a radio, the assault began simultaneously from three directions.

Heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were used, according to the guard. He said masked men threatened to kill him at gunpoint for “protecting the infidels.["] He declined to appear on camera for fear of repercussions.

Rice is faithfully conveying the administration’s talking points, dutifully repeated on Meet the Press as well. This fish is, of course, rotting from the head.